


And I Feel Fine

by Khat



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dubious Consent, Fuck Or Die, Future Fic, It'll make sense, M/M, Magical medical handwavery, Minor Character Death, Non-Consensual Blood Drinking, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Or drink blood, Post-Apocalypse, didn't know that was a tag, that should be a tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:15:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23880637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khat/pseuds/Khat
Summary: Five years into the future, the world as we know it has ended.  In the wake of the planet-wide disaster known as The Collapse, entire governments have fallen, the economy is in chaos, and corruption reigns.On the little group of islands known collectively as Hawaii, a crooked monarchy has claimed power.  Trapped in an unwinnable situation, Danny Williams is just trying to survive, forced to manage the best he can, as an officer in the current regime's brutal law enforcement.  That is, until the day he catches an old friend sneaking around, and semi-unwillingly follows him into an experience that will change both their lives and bind them together forever.
Relationships: Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 7
Kudos: 36





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this started as a nice little jaunt through the woods, and, because I am apparently seriously screwed up, and just as apparently can't write nice little jaunts through the woods, it totally went out into left field. Actually, it's probably in an entirely different ballpark. (You'll see what I mean later on.) It was entirely unplanned and unexpected, but, there we have it. The title is from R.E.M's 'It's the end of the world', because that is pretty much my go-to motto at the moment, and I couldn't think of anything better. 
> 
> And, yes, I should be writing other stuff. My defence is that, like a lot of my stuff, this has been sitting on the computer. Also, the plague is a pain and coworkers are assholes, so I am working five nights and one day a week atm at a job that I have grown to really hate over the last week, because the owners are also assholes. Paranoid ones, at that. I need to win the lottery...
> 
> Some backstory: This is intended to be compliant with the series finale of Hawaii 5-0, as crappy as that ending was. (Catherine? Really? Someone needs a slap up the side of the head. That should totally have been Danny. Whether you like her or not, that was way in the past.) When its was originally started, after season 8, the Collapse was just a vague series of events that turned into, essentially, WW3. However, current events being what they are, a 'worst case scenario' seemed perfectly fitting. I honestly do not think it will come to this, and feel that some people are taking the virus WAY too seriously. (And a lot of others, obviously, did not take it seriously enough, or we would not be in this situation.) Also, some slight things have been updated to bring it in line with the later seasons, but there is a possibility I might have missed something, so feel free to mention anything out of place.

“You should have gone home, Danno.” Steven McGarrett stood over his bound and gagged captive, an honestly regretful expression on his face. “It would have made this a lot easier on the both of us.” He crouched down to check for any serious injuries, and the blond shifted his weight, surging upwards to try to headbutt him. The move was easy to anticipate, though, and Steve simply avoided it, pushing him back down. The pair of them were in an old warehouse, long since abandoned after the Great Collapse, and mostly empty, except for Steve’s current truck, a rough-looking, but dependable, Chevy half-ton. Steve had arrived early that morning, to get ready for the next step in the task he had been assigned. Unfortunately, he hadn’t anticipated his one-time partner, one Daniel Williams, spotting him and following after.

“Trouble already? I was told you were good at this, McGarrett.”

“Just a little hiccup.” Steve answered, looking up at the man who approached. Charles Franklyn was good-looking enough, his clothing style as functional as Steve’s, cargo pants and a t-shirt, his dark hair worn a little long, his boots sensible. He was clean-shaven and wore a pleasant expression. The head of the Franklyn clan, though, was well known for his brutal approach to situations. He was the epitome of the shoot first and don’t bother with questions archetype. Honestly, he wasn’t anywhere near the type of company Steve preferred to keep, but, needs must, for the moment. Once this was done, if they met again, it would be an entirely different matter.

“I’ll agree he’s little,” Franklyn answered, and Steve pressed a hand between Danny’s shoulders, holding him down, when he growled a complaint from behind the tape that blocked his mouth and tried to struggle up again, “but he looks more trouble than that. Well, not as big a hole to dig, I suppose.” Danny went still, and Steve could almost sense the worries going through his mind. And with Franklyn in charge, he would have been all too correct. But Steve did have some pull, and he wasn’t budging on this, at least. He had been friends with the smaller man, before the wars had torn everything apart. Might have been more than friends, eventually.

“And bring every Enforcer on the island down on us?” Steve dipped into the smaller man’s pockets, removing the wallet, keys and pocketknife he found there. Nothing else, predictably; the gun the blond had had lay on the floor a few feet away, where it had been dropped, the safety still on.

“I know a few very deep holes…”

“No.” He answered, quickly reformulated his plans. Having Danny along would complicate things, but he couldn’t leave him behind. The one-time Detective, he knew, was high up in the new Hawaiian government, a senior Enforcer, even if the former Seal didn’t know quite why; the whole operation was full of corruption and tyranny, and the man he had known would have been fighting it every step of the way. 

Tying Danny up and leaving him somewhere would only prolong the inevitable and cause more trouble short-term, when he was found, and if he hid him too well, or accidentally set off his claustrophobia… Well, he wouldn’t take that chance, either. Corrupted or not, the blond didn’t deserve that fate. “I’ll bring him with us; it will keep him out of trouble and where I can keep an eye on him.”

“Again, I was told you were good at this.” Steve’s expression darkened at the insult. He wasn’t just good, he was the best still available, and the other man knew that.

“At worst he’ll slow us down a little, and I already planned extra time for some problems, and at best he might come in handy along the way. I’m not going to have this op screwed up because you’re trigger-happy.”

“And afterwards?” Franklyn sounded disappointed at the fact that he wouldn’t get to shoot someone.

“I’ll deal with that when it happens. Are the men ready to go?” The other man scowled, obviously not liking the way the conversation was going, but they both knew that he needed Steve, so he merely nodded.

“They’re waiting outside.” Steve frowned down at his irate ex-partner, reaching up to brush a finger over his own split lip again. It had stopped bleeding, so couldn’t have been that bad. He moved to retrieve the fallen gun, ejecting the magazine and dropping it in one of his pants pockets, along with the extra cartridge, before tucking the empty weapon behind his belt.

“Come on, Buddy.” He said then, bending and freeing the smaller man’s ankles, pulling him to his feet, hitting a pressure point on his neck when he, predictably, tried to fight back. “Time to meet the crew.”

******

“That your car, McGarrett?” One of the mercenaries called, as soon as they stepped outside, he and the other ten members of the group giving Danny a curious once-over. Jacques Lafleur, Steve remembered. He had met the black man before, though he wasn’t one of his regular crew, one of Franklyn’s, instead. “Pretty little chick magnet, isn’t it.” The comment was obviously derogatory, and Danny growled something into the gag that made Steve a little relieved he hadn’t removed it.

“No, that’s Danny’s.” Steve wasn’t all that surprised to see another little Camaro, a wine shade this time. Danny was nearly as attached to the model as Steve had been to the old Marquis, much as he insisted otherwise, and the frequent repair bills for the silver and black ones had proven that. The collapse of the economy meant that vehicles, and the gas to run them, were quickly becoming a rare commodity, though. “And it’s a lot tougher than it looks.” Part of what Steve had liked about them. Like their true owner, the cars could take whatever Steve dished out. “Trust me, there’s a lot of heart beneath that hood.”

He pushed his ex-partner along, letting go his hold of him to open the trunk of the Camaro, fishing around inside. The smaller man liked to bitch about Steve storing his toys in the car, but he had been just as inclined to store his own ‘kit’. The search produced a pair of hiking boots in Danny’s size; even if they were only just barely broken in, they would be better than his current city-shoes. There was also a set of spare clothing and a couple blankets, along with a rucksack left over from a trip to the beach, by the sand in it, to carry them in. It would have been nice if he had thought to stash a spare sleeping bag in there, but they could use Steve's own as a pallet, with the blankets on top. Danny would fuss and complain about having to share, of course, but Steve knew he liked cuddling, when it was his own idea, at least. It wouldn’t take too much to get him to settle in to that. 

From his own pack came a roll of sports tape and a pair of thumbless mitts, basically just small bags with buckled straps around the wrists, which would limit the wearer’s ability to use his hands. They were intended for someone else, but it would be a while before they were needed for that captive, anyway.

“You can start out,” he told the mercenaries, “the trail in is clear enough. We’ll catch up in a minute.” Most of the men shouldered their packs and headed off in the indicated direction, but Jacques stayed where he was.

“Need some help with him?” He asked, nodding toward Danny. The little powerhouse was leaning against the driver’s side door of the car, glaring at everyone. Steve would be surprised if he wasn’t trying for some sharp edge to cut the rope on or something.

“That might not be a bad idea. Thanks.” Another potential attacker might keep Danny from trying anything. Steve _could_ handle him, but another brawl right before starting out would do neither of them any good. Danny, especially, would need his energy for the hike ahead.

The mercenary grinned, and settled himself, giving Danny a very obvious once over. The blond hadn’t changed much since the last time Steve had seen him. The Seal thought he might have lost a couple pounds, just enough to make him look a little more square, and there were a few more lines creasing his face, but his hair was the same colour, grown out from the mohawk-ish style he had worn when Steve had last seen him into something closer to his original cut, the blue eyes just as bright and sharp when he was angry, his clothing the same, dress pants and a button-up shirt.

Jacques was equal opportunity, from what Steve remembered. And while he had a reputation for not being cruel, he wasn’t always concerned with how willing his partner was. The brunet wasn’t about to let him rape the blond, of course, but if worrying about it kept him quiet, then he would use it. So he ignored the look, for the moment; there would be time enough later to set the boundaries.

For now, though, they had wasted enough time, and he knew Danny wasn’t going to suddenly become cooperative, so he pulled something else he had gotten out of the truck; a rag and a bottle of ether. It was old-fashioned, but it would do the job, and, unlike the toxic chloroform, wasn’t as likely to cause any lasting damage.

As he had expected, Danny was keeping his eyes on what seemed to be the more obvious threat, Jacques, and he wasn’t fast enough to respond when Steve covered his nose with the cloth. In contrast, he took a deep breath in surprise, only helping the drugging along.

“Easy, Danno.” Steve soothed as the blond became lax in his arms. “Jacques, come and hold him, just keep the cloth over his nose like that, not too tight.” The black man obeyed the order and Steve quickly switched Danny’s shoes for the boots, releasing his wrists then and checking them. As he had expected, they were injured from the detective’s struggles, and he wrapped them carefully with the tape before tucking them into the sacks. He had had the mercenary remove the rag when he had started on taping the second wrist, and Danny was only a little wobbly when his captor hooked the D-rings on the two restraints together with a locking clip.

He was absolutely furious, though and immediately retaliated with an elbow in Jacques’ side, twisting in an effort to follow it up with a longer-lasting disability. Steve reached to stop him and Danny ducked away, stumbling, still a little unstable, and fell backward as a rock under his foot gave way, hitting the ground hard.

“I should have mentioned, he fights dirty.” Steve commented, by way of apology, as he bent over his former partner. Danny rolled onto his side and lay still, taking small quick breaths, his eyes closed. He’d just knocked the breath out of himself, the Seal decided. “Give him a minute and then get him started after the others.” He pulled the Camaro’s key from his pocket. “I’m going to put the Camaro under cover.” Danny opened his eyes, giving Jacques a belligerent look.

“Thanks for the warning.” The black man replied, tugging their unhappy, and still a little unstable, captive up while Steve started the car, giving him a push towards the direction the others had gone.

Steve left him to it and moved the car into the shelter of the warehouse with the truck, hurrying to catch up then, carrying his own equipment and shouldering the smaller backpack as well. Danny could carry it later, when he was calmed down, but for now, just getting him moving in the right direction would be a success.

His timing was perfect, reaching them just as the blond managed to get the upper hand again, driving a double fist into the other man’s stomach. Jacques bent over with a groan, and Steve caught the detective’s arm before he could make a break for it.

“You all right?” He asked the mercenary.

“He _is_ a sneaky little bastard. Bet he’d be a wildcat in the sack.”

Steve ignored the comment, tugging his ex-partner off in the proper direction, ignoring the muffled protests and the way he dug his heels in. Danny was stubborn, but he wasn’t stupid, he’d stop struggling soon enough, if only to set his mind to some other way to escape.

******

Danny was sure they had been walking forever. His feet ached, his knee felt like it was on fire, his head was throbbing dully; if it wasn’t for the hand firmly wrapped around his bicep, he probably would have collapsed by now. He couldn’t even take the effort to complain about it, even though the gag had been pulled from his mouth hours ago, his whole focus on pulling air in and out to feed his protesting muscles, and putting one foot in front of the other. He could barely keep his eyes open enough to keep track of the dirt path under his feet. At least the mosquito repellent stuff Steve had sprayed them with seemed to be doing its job.

“We’ll stop here for the night.” The man in question said suddenly, pulling him to a halt. Danny immediately listed sideways against him, his knee giving out, too sore and tired to bother reminding himself that Steve, Steve-his-partner, Steve-his-best-friend, was now apparently Steve-the-enemy. The Seal, for his part, only shifted slightly, the hand on his arm moving to reach around his back instead, easily supporting the shorter man’s weight. The ass probably could have gone for miles yet, the blond thought to himself. Honestly, he hadn’t thought he was this out of shape, but, then, he hadn’t had to keep up with Super-Seal for a few years now.

The sighs and grumbling of the mercenaries indicated that Steve’s pace had worn them out as well, but one voice, Franklyn’s, rose in protest. He had recognized him immediately; the man was a well-known terrorist. He didn’t care who he hurt, if it achieved his goals. The current Hawaiian government was so far from ideal it wasn’t funny, the blond was fully willing to admit that, but Franklyn’s methods were no better.

“Stop here? There’s another hour of light, at least.” The rebel complained. Danny couldn’t hold back the low whine at the thought. Steve’s grip tightened slightly, what could have been a soothing gesture, but was probably irritation at the argument.

“And we could find ourselves scrambling after dark to find a proper campsite and set up. Besides which, your men are nearly dead on their feet.” Danny didn’t open his eyes, but he could feel the criminal’s eyes on him.

“Don’t stop on my account.” He slurred in response to the look, the words probably unintelligible.

“I think you’re just taking it easy for your little pet.” The man huffed, echoing his thoughts.

“I could make Danny keep going until he literally dropped dead, if I wanted to. He’d like me even less than he does now for it, but I could do it.” The tone was matter-of-fact, and, honestly, the Enforcer couldn’t say he was wrong. Steve knew his weak points. Hell, all he would have had to do was threaten Grace. 

But Grace was safe, and would be kept that way, as long as he followed orders. He had been promised that. He didn’t think being kidnapped fell under that heading, though. What would happen when he didn’t show up at the Palace or report in? Had Steve inadvertently killed his daughter?

No, he insisted to himself, needing to carry that shred of hope. Adam still had a few ears turned his way, and he knew that Danny wouldn’t have just run, not with what was on the line. And when his car was found abandoned, with Steve’s prints on it, hopefully his superiors would come to the right conclusion. 

Or they would assume that his friendship with the other man had won out, and Grace was as good as dead.

“…we stop here,” Steve was saying; he had missed some of the argument, “because I, at least, am not interested in losing them in the night or having to watch for blades in my back.” For a moment Danny fantasized about trying the latter suggestion in the statement, but he had to admit even if he was ‘that’ upset, he’d have about as much chance of succeeding as he did of winning the lottery. And the lottery wasn’t even a thing, any more.

“Fine,” Franklyn snapped, “but we’re moving out at first light. And if your boy can’t keep up, I’ll shoot him myself.”

Danny stumbled a moment later as Steve nudged him back upright, the taller man forcing him a few steps to the side, finally letting him sit up against a tree trunk, shoving a canteen of water into his mostly disabled hands and allowing him a few long drinks before he pulled it away again. 

The blond tried to open his eyes and stay awake, reminding himself that it wasn’t a good idea to fall asleep in a group of people who would, bar one, apparently, have had no problems with seeing him dead, but his exhaustion dragged him down.

******

It was dark when he awoke, the camp fully set up around a fire a few yards away. He had been left where he had fallen asleep, but his ankles had been tied together, and as he moved, a rope tied to the bindings around his wrists tugged at a nearby branch, sending the limb slashing back up to its original position with an obvious swoosh. Steve was at the confused man’s side only a moment later, freeing his ankles and tugging him to his feet.

“I am going to kill you.” Danny snarled, the sentence punctuated with a muffled cry of pain as his knee protested the movement.

“Sure, Danno.” His tormentor answered, more amusement in the tone than worry.

“Get these damned things off of me.” The prisoner continued, jerking his wrists and pulling the clip taut, feeling just as angry at himself as the other. Seal or not, he shouldn’t have been able to truss him up like that without waking him.

“Promise to behave first?” The taller man answered, offering the canteen again. Danny just gave him a furious look, leaning back against the tree and holding his hands out pointedly. If Steve thought he was going to actually ‘promise to behave’, when it was _his_ fault that Danny was even here in the first place, he could think again.

They remained locked in the stand-off for a moment, before the brunet finally reached to undo the buckles on the mitts.

“Cause any trouble, or try to run, and I’ll put them back on and tie them behind your back.” The retort was right on the blond’s tongue, but he bit it back, for once, taking the canteen instead. After it was emptied, and Danny had moved to relieve himself against a nearby tree, mostly, but not completely, out of the other man’s gaze, the Seal led him over closer to the fire.

“So, Buttercup finally woke up, eh?” One of the mercenaries taunted at their approach, a darker-skinned man with a shaved head and partial sleeve tattoos on his upper arms. After a moment, Danny recognized him as the one who had helped drug him, earlier.

“Watch who you’re calling names, Tinkerbell.” He snapped back, pulling against Steve’s hold, and stumbling as his knee gave out again. The Seal just pulled him back upright, tugging him along. A number of small tents were set a little away around the fire, to Danny’s surprise. Given the nice night, something that was rarer than it had once been, he would have expected Steve, at least, to eschew the shelter. 

“You’re getting soft, Steven.” He spat. “Can’t settle for just the dirt and a blanket any more?”

“It’s going to rain tonight, Danny.” The taller man pulled his partner down onto a cleared spot of dirt, settling beside him. He _could_ be right, the weather nowadays could change at a moment’s notice, and swing between tropical storms and complete droughts, a result of the environmental destruction the Collapse and the resulting wars had caused. “You complain enough without adding being soaked through to the mix. Now,” Steve held up a bowl of something, and Danny’s stomach growled at the smell, “you can shut up and eat, or you can keep bitching and I’ll gag you and you’ll go hungry.”

“Asshole.” The Enforcer griped, but reached for the bowl.

“Love you too, Danno.” Steve answered, handing over the food, rice with some sort of meat and broth poured over it, and even daring to give him a fork. Danny considered using the makeshift weapon, but decided it would be more trouble than it was worth.

Steve’s rejoinder drew a laugh from the other men, though, and ‘Tinkerbell’ grinned widely.

“Oh, is that why you were so eager to bring him along.” He commented, French tinting his accent. “Wouldn’t mind having my girlfriend to keep me warm at night either…” Steve just smirked, and Danny narrowed his eyes, debating on whether it was worth losing the meal. Just in case, he went after the meat first.

“I thought you were the girlfriend, Jacques.” The Seal answered back smoothly, and most of the other men grinned, enjoying the joke at their companion’s expense.

“I’d be happy to settle which of us would be the girlfriend.” Tinkerbell responded, and Danny tried to decide whether he’d rather see Steve put down and have to deal with whatever the fallout of that was (being made the black man’s bitch counting as most likely, on that list) or have his ‘protector’ come out on top. Steve didn’t seem inclined to actually hurt him, but he wasn’t likely to give him any opportunities to get away, either.

“I’ll have to pass. I wouldn’t want to make Danny jealous.” Danny’s hand tightened around his fork. “And your boyfriend probably wouldn’t like it much when he found out. If I had to put all of you in your place, we’d never get out of here.”

“Well, please, go ahead, then.” The blond snarled out, anger overriding his common sense now. “I’d be ever so happy to ‘deal’ with the winner.” And not in the way they were hoping for.

“I bet you would.” Another man, this one white, and almost as lean as Steve, although younger, with bleach blond hair, answered. His tone pegged him as homophobic. “I bet you’d be happy to let everyone here use your ass, wouldn’t you?”

It was only Steve’s sharp reflexes that kept Danny where he was, and as it was, the bowl, with the little rice left in it, made a nice impact against the other blond’s raised arm.

“That is enough.” Franklyn snarled, emerging from his own tent. “McGarrett, get your pet under control.” Steve already had Danny immobilised, though, one arm holding his left twisted behind his back painfully, the other hand pressed firmly over his mouth.

“He’ll behave. Won’t you, Daniel?” Steve’s voice was dark with a warning that made Danny’s anxiety flare. Steve wouldn’t actually… But it had been a couple years since they had been partners. People changed; Danny had, himself. And there were plenty of things Steve could do, the blond was sure, that wouldn’t lay him up permanently, or stop him from keeping up.

So, reluctantly, he relaxed into the hold, suddenly reminded of their face-off on their first case, so long ago.

Steve didn’t give him a chance to get a punch in this time, though, quickly trussing his hands up again in front of him with some weird sailor knot, sealing a length of tape over his mouth again. He pulled the blond back upright, then huffed and reached into the pocket of his captive’s pants to retrieve the stolen fork. Danny’s fingers twitched as he considered. If he stretched just slightly, the pocket where Steve kept his switchblade would be within reach.

The Seal paused, almost as if he were reading his partner’s mind.

“Don’t do something stupid, Danno.” He murmured in the blond’s ear before shifting to sit down right behind him, one leg bent up, elbow resting on his knee, the other arm curled around his captive’s waist. If it weren’t Steve, Danny would have considered the whole thing not entirely platonic.

It was reminiscent of the fall-out from that conversation over Bridget and her co-worker, actually. Steve had spent the rest of the week teasing him with obviously inappropriate touches, enduring Danny’s scolding with amusement. Kono and Chin had found it hilarious, even more so after they found out what it was actually about, and Lou had even gotten in on the teasing, taking one opportunity to wrap his arm around the smaller man’s shoulders suggestively and invite him along to see some new horror movie. Which had led to a mock-fight between him and Steve over Danny’s favour, while the blond had pretended to be outraged at the both of them. Simpler times, even if they hadn’t seemed so then.

“So, McGarrett, do we get a shot at him?” Tinkerbell spoke up again, then and Steve shook his head, while Danny focused the admittedly ineffective might of his glare on the mercenary. The homophobic blond had stalked off toward his own tent after the altercation, nursing what would hopefully be a nice bruise, (although, probably not, unfortunately,) and he seemed to be the only one of his ilk in the group. It would have been strange if all of the group were gay, or bi, but they were at least not prejudiced. Then again, nowadays, it wouldn’t be surprising for more men to be willing to take whatever was available. The new Hawaiian government was all for harem-style households, and who knew who else might have taken that route, as well, so, between that and medical assistance for pregnancy being less available, there were fewer women for the rest of them.

Fortunately, the blond was saved from finding out for sure.

“Danny’s mine. You want one, you go find your own.”

“All right,” this guy was black as well, but a shade lighter than his counterpart, and a bit smaller, if no less fit. He looked a good decade or two younger, too. “I’ll bite, how do you catch yourself a pretty blond like that?”

“It’s a lot like taming a wild animal.” Steve answered, pretending to take the question seriously, ignored the muffled snarl of anger from the discussion’s subject. “First, you have to find one. I lucked out, Danny came right to me. There was a little mess with guns and crime scene jurisdiction, but I straightened that out.” Another angry mutter. “Then you have to convince him to stay around. So, I used my recently acquired leverage to force him into being my partner. And then, you just have to make him trust you.”

“Yeah, like he trusts you now?” Yet another man joked. Steve just smirked.

“Danny’s pissed off at me; it doesn’t mean he doesn’t trust me.” A forth snorted in disbelief, and Steve shifted slightly, pulling his captive back a bit to lie against him. Danny tensed against the movement a moment, but then gave in. His short burst of ire aside, he was still pretty worn out. “He’s drank and eaten what I’ve given him without a second thought, even though he is very well aware of what sort of stuff could be slipped into food or water.” Danny tensed again. He hadn’t even _considered_ anything like that. And Steve was right, he was well aware. It was a reason why he very rarely ate anything he didn’t make himself any more. The brunet’s hand swept up over his ribs and back down, the gesture obviously meant to be soothing. “He’s gone where I told him to, all day, and believe me, even tied, he could have put up a lot more fuss, and he’s sitting here right now quite peacefully.” He wasn’t peaceful, the Enforcer refuted silently, he was just tired, it was cooling off, and Steve was warm. “That’s the equivalent of a paranoid mouse napping in a den of cats, while they’re all watching him.”

“Literally napping, it looks like.” The little black guy joked. Flounder, Danny decided to call him, as he pulled his eyes open again. He felt Steve shrug.

“He certainly isn’t behaving like an Enforcer now.” A new voice came. Danny gave a sharp jerk at the statement, eyes opening wide, knowing full well what happened to law enforcement nowadays when they were caught at a disadvantage. He hadn’t thought anyone had known; nobody had mentioned it before. Steve’s hold tightened a smidge, either restricting or reassuring; Danny wasn’t sure.

“He’s one of them?” The speaker was an older man, grey-haired and bearded, and his lip was curled in disgust. Triton, maybe. “We ought to drop him off the nearest cliff, then. There’s no good come of having one of them around. He’s probably just waiting to kill us all in our sleep.”

“He’s not one of the bad ones. I’ve seen him before; my cousin lives along his beat.” A third person contended. He was clearly Hawaiian, with cheekbones that could cut like a blade. Mushu, Danny decided and then took a moment to wonder why he was naming all these guys after Disney characters. Memories of better days, maybe, before all this trouble. “He’d bring treats for the children, sometimes, and he saved my cousin’s life, once.”

“Danny isn’t going to kill anyone in their sleep.” Steve assured them. “He’d have to stay awake long enough to.” The blond pulled his eyes open again, blinking quickly a few times. Even the threat of eminent death wasn’t enough to keep him awake, apparently. “Not that he has the wrong idea; tomorrow isn’t going to be any easier than today, and we need to be at the other side of the island in three days after that.”

“It’d be easier if we drove.” Mushu muttered.

“The brat’s so hidden away up here that this is the only way to get to him, short of a bird.” Flounder answered. “And that’s out of the question.” Danny was a bit too tired to take a serious stab at wondering what ‘brat’ he was talking about, but he did file it away for later.

Steve’s comment seemed to be the sign to break up the party, though, since Danny half-heard the men mumbling among themselves and rising to head off to their own tents. And apparently Steve hadn’t been wrong about the weather, because just after Danny was urged to his feet and led off to the tent, the skies let loose.

“Come on, Danno, time for bed.” Steve untied him and Danny pulled the tape away from his lip carefully, glaring at his tormentor.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re up to, Steven,” he snapped, the short nap and quick trip having rejuvenated his anger, at least, “but…”

“No, Danny, you don’t.” Steve hissed back, pulling his shirt off. “You have no idea. And yet you stumbled into it in your typical clumsy-”

“You are working with _Charles Franklyn_. The most wanted man in the Hawaiian government, and a few others, I imagine. You know I am legally required to shoot him, and anyone with him, on sight?”

“Your typical clumsy fashion.” Steve continued, ignoring his statement. “So now you’re here, and you will do as you are told. Unless you’d prefer to end up with your name on a missing persons form.” Danny froze, casting a worried glance at the other man. He knew what that had sounded like, but… Steve caught the look and rolled his eyes.

“Just trust me, Danny, and don’t give them any reasons to complain, all right? Now undress and come to bed.” Steve was stripping off his pants now, and Danny looked away, noting then that there was only one sleeping bag spread out, although opened, a light blanket tossed over it.

“To bed. With you, in our underwear.” Steve paused to look at him and shook his head then.

“You’re such a girl. Yes, together, Princess, and I promise not to taint your virtue too much.”

“I’m fine here.” Danny griped in response, stretching out on a random spot by the door.

“You’re getting tied up, then.” The Seal warned. “Don’t be stubborn, Danny.”

“Fine.” Steve rolled his eyes before reaching for the ropes he had used to tie the blond earlier, going over and quickly pinning him on his stomach.

“Hey, what are you-” His captive began.

“You didn’t think I was just going to tie your hands in front of you and that’d be it, did you?” He quickly knotted the rope around the smaller man’s wrists and then reached downward, considering a moment before he switched sides, forcing the left leg up and hog-tying it to his wrists, leaving the sore one free, all the time ignoring the insults being spat at him.

“Dammit, McGarrett.” Danny snarled as Steve stepped away, jerking viciously and wincing as he pulled painfully at his shoulder. The muscle seized and he was left gasping at the pain, only noticing once it passed the fingers that dug into the joint, soothing it.

“Are you done, now? If you’ve changed your mind, you can still join me.” The Enforcer groaned in acquiescence.

“I hate you.” He grumbled. “I can’t articulate how much I hate you.” Steve just tugged at the ropes, loosening them quickly.

“I know, Danno.” His tone was resigned, but not apologetic at all. “Come on, now. Hurry up, or I’ll tie you properly and leave you there.” The threat was enough that Danny reluctantly undressed down to his briefs and lay down on the sleeping bag. Steve gathered up the discarded clothing, shoving them into a pillow case and tossing the bundle at him. Danny glared, but shoved it under his head, tensing up when the other man knelt over him. Suddenly he found himself wondering how much of the talk out by the fire had actually been joking around.

“Let me see your knee.”

“It’s fine.” The blond responded mulishly, ignoring the way it still throbbed.

“I’m not having you come up lame tomorrow because you’re being temperamental now.”

“Well, at least you have your prior-” The rest of the acerbic sentence was cut off by a muffled yelp as Steven forced the issue, gripping the joint firmly.

“Son of a-” Danny bit out, starting to sit up, but stopping when his captor tightened his grip. “Damned Neanderthal.”

“Just lie back and relax, Danny.” And if that didn’t sound suggestive, the blond thought to himself, rolling his eyes.

He flopped back, tossing an arm over his eyes. There was the click of something being uncapped, and then Steve’s hand was rubbing over his knee again, followed by a wave of dull relief, soothing enough that he might actually have moaned. Steve moved lower, massaging the muscles of his calf and down over the sole of his foot. He might have done the other leg as well, the Enforcer wasn’t really sure, because by then he was asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still hate my job, and I still need to win the lottery. At least the new co-workers are somewhat competent and not lazy af, even if some of the customers are still idiots.
> 
> So many OCs... And more to come... I hate having to write background OCs, they're such a nuisance to keep track of and make believable.
> 
> Note: I probably should have said before, but I have no medical background. I do not suggest drugging people unless you actually are trained and know what you're doing, and it's a truly necessary situation. Obviously, in a story, nothing can go wrong unless the writer wants it to, and things work exactly the way they should; the same isn't true in reality.

Danny was surprisingly comfortable. The air smelled of that sweet clean after-rain scent, albeit with the too-green tinge that he had slowly grown used to over the years. The bed under him was too hard, but he was warm, and the pillow… Well, that was a little hard, too, and it was moving slightly, but it seemed right, somehow, as did the arm wrapped loosely around his waist. It should have been weird, because he couldn’t remember the last time he had woken with someone else in his bed, but there was something oddly safe and secure-seeming about the whole arrangement. Now, if only that voice would stop calling him.

“Come on, Danno. I’d love to stay in bed with you, but the sun’s coming up and we have a long way to go today.”

“No walking.” Danny mumbled in response, sure that was part of the reason he didn’t want to get up, even if he couldn’t quite recall why.

“Just manage the next couple days and then you can sleep all you want.” Danny blinked, finally giving in to the cajoling, coming awake enough to realise where he was, and why. He rolled off of the other man and sat up in one smooth motion, feeling faintly embarrassed. He had been cuddling the Seal like a teddy bear. And, all right, maybe that wasn’t quite that surprising, considering how close, physically, they had once tended to get on any given day, but none of that had been done mostly naked.

“Awake now?” Steve sat up as well, immediately moving to get dressed, nudging his partner when he just sat there.

“Get dressed, Danny. Unless you feel like showing off for the group out there. Most of them probably wouldn’t mind a look.”

“Shut up.” Danny snarled, what remained of his good mood entirely gone as he reached for his own clothes. “Just shut the hell up.”

They struck camp along with the others, Steve doing most of the work and Danny being more of a hindrance than a help, only partially on purpose. It almost degenerated into one of their usual shouting matches, until Tinkerbell helpfully dragged the blond off to help refill the canteens. Filling bottles and dropping little white pills in them was something he couldn’t mess up, at least.

The day was pretty much a copy of the one before, just the lot of them tromping through the bush, with a few exceptions. Danny carried the rucksack, and wasn’t tied, today, Steve pointing out, when Franklyn commented on it, that he’d be lost within a few yards if he left the group, and he knew it perfectly well, so there was no need for it. When the ‘leader’ offered the theory that Danny would attack one of the others, the Seal had just snorted and had stated that if the blond managed to take any of them out, then they more than deserved what they got, which had led to a loud rant from said blond about his fighting skills, (mostly heard only by Tinkerbell and Mushu, since Steve kept disappearing,) until exertion had finally stilled his tongue.

Early afternoon saw them in an area filled with caves, which various members of the group kept on stopping to check out. Danny didn’t miss the fact that his former partner was staying closer now, but decided not to comment on it, especially not after the blond (Danny decided to call him Gaston, despite the difference in looks, because he had always hated that character,) suggested that they send him in for whatever it was they were looking for, conveniently choosing one of the smallest holes to point out. Surprisingly, it had been Franklyn who had vetoed that idea, because apparently he didn’t trust the Enforcer to not get lost, try to escape, or steal whatever it was.

His luck didn’t hold any longer than that unfortunately, as nightfall found them setting up camp inside one of the structures. Not an overly small one, of course, but enough to make him uncomfortable, so, while the others gathered around the fire, he settled at the edge of the cave entrance, his back against the side of it.

Maybe it was the fact that he hadn’t started out the day getting his ass handed to him (as gentle as he had to admit, albeit silently, that Steve had been about it) and drugged, or the slower pace and the fact that he hadn’t joined the search, but he wasn’t nearly as worn out today, at least not physically.

“Hey, you all right?” Steve asked, sitting down beside him.

“Fine.” He answered shortly, keeping his gaze on the vegetation outside.

“You keep this up, the guys are going to start thinking you don’t like them.” The taller man teased.

“Why wouldn’t I like them?” Danny snapped back, noting absently that his tone was rising. “They didn’t tie me up, drug me like a damsel in a bad mystery novel and haul me off on a trek across the island on some stupid quest for something in a bunch of damned holes in the ground.”

“In my defense, if you hadn’t come trailing after me, you wouldn’t be here.”

“I was doing my job. Of course I’m going to come ‘trailing’ after you. What, you think after knowing what kind of trouble you cause when you’re sneaking around I’d just let you go?”

“You could have.” The taller man argued. “Why are you even with them, Danny? You know the kind of things that have been happening.” Danny avoided his gaze, staring out at the forest again.

“Some of us can’t just go gallivanting off doing whatever we like, Steven.” He grumped. “Some of us have _commitments_.” Even if those commitments sometimes seemed flimsy, in the face of everything he was forced to ignore. He’d needed to find solace in the bottom of a bottle more than once in the last few years. Except that it had never lasted.

“Would it help if I said I was sorry I left?” They had both understood the reasoning, at the time. It hadn’t made it any easier to watch the Seal walk away. Didn’t make it any easier to deal with this, _now_.

“No, Steven, it would not help. What would help is being back home, in my own bed, before all this happened, thinking about whatever death-defying stunt you had planned for our next case, not sitting, exhausted, inside of a hole in the ground, waiting for it to fall in on me.” And there was no way any of the others couldn’t have missed that one. From the silence, they had all been listening.

“It’s not going to fall in on you, you’re perfectly safe.”

“I know that.” Danny muttered, his tone resigned. Steve tossed his arm around the smaller man’s shoulders and Danny cuddled in close, sighing. If it had been a long time since he shared his bed, it had been nearly as long since he could relax with someone he trusted.

While he trusted Adam, to a point, the former mob boss ran in his own circles now, and they didn’t include Danny, unless it was as a security guard.

And Steve had been right; he did still trust him. The man could have put a bullet in him at any time. Hell, he probably knew twenty ways to deal with him that _didn’t_ need any external aids. The blond knew he wasn’t here because they needed an Enforcer hostage.

“You know what this is going to look like to the rest of them, right?” The Seal asked quietly, and Danny huffed in amusement.

“Babe, as far as half the island was concerned, we were far enough in the closet for me to be having panic attacks. I’m sure another dozen people won’t matter.” He paused to consider. “Well, Gaston might be a problem.”

“Gaston?” His partner repeated.

“He’s a character from Beauty and the Beast. Very full of himself, thinks he’s God’s gift to women, completely intolerant of alternate lifestyles. He was very against Beauty getting together with the beast. I hated him right away.”

“Oh.” Steve nodded, catching on. “Jimmy.” Danny considered a moment.

“Yeah, we can go with that. Gaston’s a little too important sounding.” Steve grinned, squeezing him close a moment.

“That’s good, Danno, since that’s his name. Did you give everyone names from Disney movies?”

“Maybe. They didn’t bother to introduce themselves at all.” They sat in silence for a moment longer and Danny sighed again, feeling surprisingly relaxed. Not enough so t abate his curiosity, though.

“What’s this all about, Steve? Flounder said something about a brat. And why is everyone looking in holes? And don’t say classified.” He warned, when the Seal opened his mouth to speak.

“Brian,” he corrected. “And there are rumours that there was a stash of weapons up in the area. Drugrunner hideaway.”

“And the other mission?” Steve remained silent a moment, before sighing.

“I’m sorry, Danny. It’s better if you don’t know. It would cause complications.” The Enforcer snorted, but didn’t pull away.

“You’d tell me, but then you’d have to shoot me.” Danny still hated secrets; they never turned out well, in his experience.

“Something like that,” Steve answered blandly.

“Hey, Lovebirds,” Tinkerbell called, then. “Food’s ready.” And that brought the conversation to an end before the blond could start prying, Steve dragging him back to join the others.

******

That night saw Danny in much the same situation as the previous one. They didn’t bother with the tents, though, everyone just laying their bags out wherever they felt like and sleeping there. The blond would have liked to have been closer to the cave entrance, (read: outside) but Steve had overruled him, setting their bedding out closer to the fire than the opening, and off to the side. They were still set apart from the others, who chose places further in.

Nor was the captive impressed when Steve expected him to strip down in front of everyone there, although he conceded that without much more than his usual muttered complaints and insults.

Getting comfortable wasn’t easy, either. Unlike the night before, when he had been exhausted enough to not care about where he was laying, Danny felt every tiny rock and crack in the ground under him. At least his knee wasn’t hurting; Steve had given him the jar of ointment to see to it himself earlier.

“If you don’t stop wriggling around, Danny, I am going to lie on you.” Steve muttered, at one point.

“Well, excuse me for not being accustomed to lying on the hard ground like a caveman.” The Enforcer growled back. His captor huffed in irritation, and then jerked him up into a position similar to the one he had woken in that morning.

“Go to sleep.” The Seal ordered, and Danny, despite what should have been an awkward situation, found himself doing just that.

******

Something was wrong. Danny wasn’t quite sure what it was that had woken him, but he knew that there was _something_. He could feel Steve’s chest moving in a slow even rhythm, showing that whatever it was, it hadn’t woken the other man or, if it had, he was very good at faking it.

There. The slightest whisper of a rock moving on the ground, somebody’s foot dislodging it. It could just be someone going out to take a mid-night piss. It _could_ be.

Danny’s hand moved, slowly, up towards the knapsack by Steve’s head. He knew the Seal, he wouldn’t have gone to sleep unprotected. Sure enough, just under the bag, within easy reach, lay a small revolver. Easy to hide, quick to draw. He thumbed the safety off and pulled the hammer back quietly.

The person edged closer, and Danny wondered why Steve wasn’t responding, just as he felt the even pattern break with a silently held breath. The taller man might have had time to take action, had he not had Danny’s weight on him, but the blond, who had grown accustomed to the vigilance needed in his new position (because everyone was always looking out to move up, and there were at least a dozen different factions on the main island alone,) reacted instinctively, then, lifting up, gun in hand, aiming and firing in one smooth movement.

Jimmy stared down at them, shock widening his eyes, (grey, Danny noticed,) a long blade falling from suddenly nerveless fingers. Then he was collapsing, and the rest of the camp was suddenly up, their own weapons raised, most of them trained on what appeared to be the threat.

The prisoner silently let his former partner take the weapon from his hand, the Seal rising then to pull the sleeping bag away from the growing pool of blood. Danny stood as well, moving out of the way, and froze as he felt a barrel against his temple.

“Give me one good reason,” Franklyn spat, “why I shouldn’t blow your brains out right here.”

“Self-defence.” The blond said, forcing his voice to stay calm. “He had a knife.” Steve spotted the weapon, picking it up.

“A man _might_ survive a stab in the back with that, if he had a hospital nearby.” He commented, then tilted the blade. “Or not. It’s been coated in toxin of some sort. Danny would have been dead before morning.” The Seal lifted his eyes to meet the team leader’s. “You should be glad he failed. Who knows who else he would have taken offence to. Me, probably, by association. Jacques, maybe. Anybody else here who wouldn’t mind a guy under him instead of a girl?” Flounder, no, Brian, Danny corrected, shifted uncomfortably. One of the other men, a burly bleach-blond, gave him a curious look and he shrugged.

“Girls are better, but they ain’t always so easy to find anymore.”

“Yeah, good point.” The unnamed man agreed.

“Everybody back to bed.” Franklyn snarled, “We’re still leaving first thing in the morning. You two clean up your mess.” Danny just stared down at the body as the other men headed back to their bags. He knew he should feel regret for killing the man, but, strangely enough, he really didn’t feel anything.

“I’ve been doing this too long.” He decided. Steve moved the last of their stuff over to a clear space, and stood to frown at him.

“He’s a mercenary and a murderer, and who knows what else. Nobody’s going to arrest you for shooting him. Nobody cares. You get his feet, I’ll take the head.”

“Somebody should.” The Enforcer answered, but moved to his appointed position.

It didn’t take long to ‘bury’ the body. All they had to do was find a suitably sized crevice and then encourage the loose dirt at the entrance to collapse in, much to Danny’s distaste.

It was still dark when they returned to the camp-cave, but Danny already knew he was going to end up being exhausted before they got half through the walk again the next day. He said as much when he and Steve settled down again, and the Seal only laughed softly at him.

******

“We have a problem.” Misha announced, appearing from up the game trail. His long black hair was tucked behind his ears neatly, his Polynesian features sharp enough to rival Chin’s. Misha’s sense of humour was far darker than the other Hawaiian’s, though, and he was young enough to have been the man’s son, only in his twenties. He was just as honest and trustworthy as the cop had been, though, and Steve often wondered if they weren’t related, some way. “The pass we were going to take has washed out. There’s no way through there.”

It was still early morning, the sun not yet half-risen. Steve had sent the man ahead to scout the path, since he was the fastest and most agile of Steve’s men, one of the reasons why he had brought him along. Only he and Brian were Steve’s, the rest were Franklyn’s men, since Steve’s group alone hadn’t been enough to do this part of the mission and man the ship that would meet them at the other side of the island.

“If we have to go around, it will add another two days to the trip.” Franklyn added with a scowl. “We’ll miss the deadline.”

“I might know a way through,” Simon spoke up. It was the first statement the man had offered up since the mission began. He certainly looked the part of the background henchman, though, big and well-muscled, his hair nearly non-existent. “There’s an old set of mine tunnels near here that led through to the other side.”

“I remember those.” Steve put in. “If they’re still open…”

“If?” Danny interrupted from where he sat on a fallen log, listening in. Steve ignored him.

“…we could be through to the other side just before dark. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than the alternative.”

“How reliable are they?” Franklyn asked.

“They were being used during the wars. There were some fallen side-passages, but they were still passable then.”

“You’re not seriously thinking of going through some half-collapsed tunnels, under a _mountain_ , that may, or may not get us through to the other side?”

“Danny, not now.”

“No, exactly now.” The detective protested, jerking up, then stumbling back a step at the gun that was suddenly right in his face.

“If you don’t shut up, I will shoot you right now and leave your body at the bottom of the smallest, deepest cave I can find.” Danny slowly lifted his hands, taking another step back, but his expression was mutinous.

“That’s enough.” Steve broke in. “Danny, take a walk.” Danny opened his mouth to protest and Steve gave him a furious look. “Now.” The blond glared back at him but turned away, disappearing between the trees. Steve turned back toward Franklyn. “Point a gun at him one more time and you will be begging me for a deep cave to drop you in, do you understand?”

“As I recall, you said you would handle him. So far, your handling has been to let him slow us down, bitching the whole time, and has led to the death of one of my men.”

“A man who attacked us, might I remind you, simply because he thought we _might_ have been in a sexual relationship. Which, for the record, we’re not, so far. He got what was coming to him. Danny might be a nag and a whiner sometimes, but I didn’t keep him on my team for ten years just because he’s nice to look at. He’s pulled my ass out of the fire more often than I care to remember, and anybody here who has a problem with him is going to have to go through me. Anyone.” The two men stared each other down for a moment before Franklyn turned away with a disgusted look.

“We’re going through those tunnels now. If he won’t come along, he gets left behind.” And he stalked off.

******

“Maybe if we blindfolded him.” Brian suggested with a shrug, later, as they stood in front of the old mine entrance, and Tomas shook his head. The man, as tall as Steve, if not quite as slender, seemed pretty true to his Canadian background, so far, fairly easy-going, if more serious than the stereotype claimed. Straight black hair worn in a single-length cut to his shoulders and dark eyes spoke of Native heritage, likely, even if his skin was too light.

“I have a sister who has a fear of spiders,” he stated. “Even brushing a web would send her into hysterics. Blindfold or not, he’d know where he was and that would set it off.” Well, that was a good sign, that some of the other men were actively trying to solve the problem, instead of just following Franklyn’s lead. But then, Danny, despite his issues, was surprisingly likeable.

Steve let out a sigh, considering the problem. He couldn’t expect Danny to go through the tunnels, he’d worry himself into a panic attack within the first few yards, if Steve could even manage to get him inside.

“You going to drug him again?” Jacques asked idly.

“For that distance, it wouldn’t be safe, and awkward besides.” Steve answered absently, then gave the other man a thoughtful look.

“Do we have morphine in the medical kit?”

“Sure. You planning on knocking him out and carrying him?”

“Get the dose right, and he’ll be sedated enough to get through, and still be able to walk himself. The real problem will be talking him into it.”

“So that’s going to be your plan from now on?” Steve looked over at the statement. Danny had been lagging along at the back of the group; it was just the Seal’s luck that he decided to catch up now. “Just drug me up whenever I get in your way.”

“Danny.”

“No. I’ve told you before, Steven. You. Are not. A doctor! And unless you have one hiding in your band of miscreants-”

“Actually,” Misha put in, earning himself a furious blue-eyed glare, “I am, technically. Back before the wars started, I was training to be a doctor. Made it to an intern, and then I got drafted as an army doctor. I’d just need your weight to work out the right dose.” Danny’s eyes swung back to Steve, the dare in them obvious.

“160…2.” the Seal stated, meeting his partner’s gaze. “Unless you have a better plan.”

“161, thank you. And, yes, I do. I turn around and go home.”

“Really, Danny? You’d be lost inside of an hour, if you didn’t walk off a cliff or something before that.”

“I wouldn’t be here at all if you hadn’t decided it was a good idea to drug me up. Why would I let you do it again?”

“That’s your reason? You don’t trust me?”

“No, that’s not my reason!” The blond was pacing now, and Steve tried to rein in his anger, knowing that his partner had already given in, but was dropping into his usual final denial stage. “My reason is that it’s a stupid idea. That stuff wears off, if it even works in the first place, and I don’t want to wake up in the middle…” He shuddered, heaving in a breath and holding it.

“Relax, Danno. You’ll make it through fine.”

“Assuming I wake up at all, and don’t get buried beneath a thousand tonnes…” He closed his eyes, taking a breath again, obviously trying to calm himself. Steve nodded to Misha, who turned to search through his pack for the needed equipment.

“I hate you.” The blonde went back to his pacing. “I honestly hate you. I should have gone back home to Jersey. Just taken Grace, and… and Charlie and caught the first flight home.”

“How are the kids?” Steve asked, honestly curious, and figuring that it would help distract the other man. By the broken look that crossed Danny’s features, though, it wasn’t the best idea.

“Charlie…” The detective took a steadying breath. “Charlie caught the second wave of the virus…” He shrugged, the implication obvious.

“Danny…” Steve felt horrified. The coronavirus that had appeared not long after he had left Hawaii had swept the globe not just once, but _three_ times, mutating and killing millions each time. It still wasn’t clear whether it was natural, or manmade, as some people still claimed, but it hardly mattered in the end. Entire governments had collapsed, and the economic fallouts had started the violent wars of the Collapse. 

The Seal couldn’t imagine what it had been like for his ex-partner to have to go through something like that. It would have been harsh for any father, but for over-sensitive Danny, who always worried about the worst possibilities even on the perfect day…

“What about Grace? And Rachael?”

“Rachael couldn’t handle what happened. She went back to be with her parents and then the Collapse happened, and I don’t know where she is. And Grace was fine, the last time I saw her.” Steve frowned at the odd tone to the last, and was about to ask about it, but Misha held up the needle, then. Danny stared at the fluid in it, and Steve could almost see his mind switching gears. And sure enough…

“I think I’d rather take my chances, here, actually. Give me a compass, I’m sure I can figure it out.” Steve reached out to tug him close and the blond back-pedalled quickly, right into Mickey. The old soldier might not have been at his peak any more, but neither was he a pushover.

“Are we really certain he’s an Enforcer?” The grey-haired man asked, even as he trapped his opponent’s arms behind his back. Danny tried to squirm free, and then stomp on the other man’s foot when that didn’t work, but Mickey’s shoes were steel-toed. Steve was fairly certain his partner wasn’t trying his hardest, either.

Misha quickly injected him with the drug, ignoring the insults his unwilling patient spat, and before long the words turned into nonsensical muttering, the blue eyes hazing over.

“Come on. Let’s get him through before he comes up.” And Steve easily led his disoriented partner into the cavern.

******

_“I think he’s coming out of it.”_

_Where were they? Everything was dark, and there was a smell of mould and earth._

_“Dammit. Misha, can you take him under again.”_

_They were underground. Deep underground. He had been buried, again._

_“Maybe, with just a small dose…”_

_Dirt and rocks all around him, the weight of it pressing down on him, and the air was too thick, too hot, he couldn’t breathe. He was going to suffocate down here, wherever here was._

_Someone was next to him, holding him steady, someone familiar and safe, but even a super-Seal couldn’t protect him from dying down here…_

_“Ste…”_

_“Easy, Danny. You’re fine. It’s just a bit further.” Something sharp pricked his arm, and the terror was swept away in a cool rush._

_******_

“That actually saved us a little time.” Brian commented, as the last of their group, Mickey, exited the cave, the soldier’s hands on his guns, like he expected to come right out into an ambush or something. It wasn’t a bad way to stay alive, Steve supposed, but the forest around them was peaceful. He let Danny slide down to sit against a couple large rocks, the blue eyes closing fully, now that he didn’t need to pay attention to where he was going. The second dose had been an unwanted necessity, but they had still been a good twenty minutes from the other side when he had started to panic.

“That’s good. It gives us a little more time to rest.” Steve cast a glance around for Franklyn. The man wasn’t in sight at all. “How far is it now?” Brian had the rough map they had been given, and he checked it thoughtfully, then consulted a handheld gps receiver. They didn’t always work anymore, but it seemed to be, at the moment.

“I think we should be there about midafternoon.”

“All right, then. Everybody take a break, but keep your eyes open. There may be patrols out this far.” The plan was to attack the compound just after dark. It was an unusual time, true, but that might give them the advantage, no one would expect it, then. And no one was even supposed to know where the place was; the guards might be getting lazy, unless they had a really good commander. He wasn’t trusting to that bit of luck, of course, but it was a possibility.

Franklyn reappeared then, giving the team his own once-over, pausing a minute on Danny, who seemed to be sleeping, now, before holstering his weapon.

“The area around is clear, for the moment.” He stated plainly. “Twenty minutes, and then we go.” He cast a glance at Danny again. “What are you going to do with him? I’m not taking him in; he’s a liability.” Steve didn’t look up from checking his guns.

“I’ll find a safe place and leave him there, tied. By the time he manages to get loose, I’d either be back for him or we’d all be dead and it won’t matter.”

“Or you die, and I take the blond and head for some nice little island.” Jacques interjected with a playful grin. Steve just huffed.

“What about the rest of us.” Misha interjected.

“Well, I suppose I could share now and then.” The Frenchman conceded. “We could double up. He looks like he could handle it.”

“I’m so pleased to have a say in all of this.” Danny slurred irritably, apparently aware enough to catch the gist of the conversation. “Just be warned, I’ll gut anyone who goes near my ass.”

“So your mouth is fair game?” Jacques asked

“If you could make him stop talking long enough.” Steve put in, just smiling fondly at the irritated look the victim of their teasing gave him.

“I hate you all.” The blond muttered, and Steve’s smile turned to a grin.

“Feel honoured, men. You’ve just been added to an elite club.”

“Neanderthal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm sure there are going to be a number of people upset about Charlie, now. I have reasons for that. Charlie was more of a plot point than a character, in my opinion. Like Grace, he disappeared as the series went on; unlike her, however, he wasn't shown enough at a reasonable age for him to actually have a writable personality, other than as a typical little boy. And it gives the background a bit more realism, rather than something that's just talked about.


End file.
